Image by Barry Livingstone
The International Monetary Fund has refused to issue the third tranche of the $17.5 billion emergency aid package to the Ukrainian government based on lack of progress in anti-corruption efforts and the failure to pass several economic reforms. The supranational entity declared it will revisit the issue a few months into the new year.
Ukraine Recalls Serbian Ambassador Over Mercenaries
Hugues Mingarelli, the head of the EU delegation to Ukraine said at a press conference at Oshchadbank in Kyiv on December 13 that Ukraine had met only 17 out of 21 preliminary requirements of the program for receiving the third tranche of 600 million euros ($705.5 million), reported RFERL.
“Mingarelli said earlier that the requirements Ukraine failed to meet included the abolition of a moratorium on the export of round timber, the fulfillment of conditions in the field of energy, fighting corruption and requirements in the field of trade as well as in social payments for immigrants,” wrote REFEL.
Saakashvili, Says Ukraine Will Break Up If Corruption Is Not Reversed
There has been a great deal of press regarding the continued grip of corruption on the Ukrainian economy and its manifestations inside the government. Pressure on President Petro Poroshenko has increased as opposition figures like former the mayor of Odessa, Mikheil Saakashvili, have called for his impeachment and a new revolution. Ukrainian security services arrested Saakashvili but released him presumably under pressure from Western governments.
